Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (185 page)

1)
The rum and raisins

½ cup currants (small, black, seedless raisins) in a small bowl

¼ cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Soak the raisins in the rum until you are ready to use them.

2)
Baking the apple slices

¼ lb. (1 stick) melted butter

A baking pan with raised edges, such as a 10- by 16-inch jelly-roll pan or a 14-inch pizza tray

½ cup sugar

6 to 7 medium-sized apples (about 2 lbs.) that will keep their shape during cooking (Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, York Imperial)

A flexible-blade spatula and a rubber spatula

A lightly buttered 6-cup baking-and-serving dish, such as a round one 10 by 1½ inches

More sugar if necessary

Spread half the butter in the pan and sprinkle over it half the sugar. Wash apples thoroughly but do not peel. Quarter them, core them, and cut into lengthwise slices about ⅜ inch thick. Arrange in one overlapping layer in the pan, sprinkle on the remaining sugar, and dribble the remaining butter over all. Bake about 25 minutes in upper-third level of preheated oven until apples are tender but still hold their shape. Transfer apple slices to baking dish in one crowded, overlapping layer. Scrape cooking juices over apples. Taste, and sprinkle on a little more sugar if you think it is needed.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be prepared to this point a day in advance. Cover when cool, and refrigerate. Preheat oven in time for Step 4.

3)
The rum and egg topping

The raisins in their rum

A sieve over a bowl

3 “large” eggs

½ cup sugar

An electric mixer

¼ cup all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and sweeping off excess with a knife)

½ cup liquid (2 to 3 Tb rum maceration plus light cream)

¼ tsp cinnamon

Drain the raisins, pressing rum out of them lightly. Sprinkle half the rum over the apple slices. Beat the eggs and sugar for 3 to 4 minutes at high speed with mixer until they are thick and pale yellow. Beat in the flour, liquids, and cinnamon. Fold in the raisins, then spread the topping over the apples.

4)
Baking and serving—about 25 minutes at 375 degrees

Bake in middle level of preheated 375-degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until topping has browned nicely and a skewer, plunged through topping, comes out clean. Serve hot, warm, or cold. You may wish to pass lightly whipped cream sweetened with powdered sugar and flavored with rum, or homemade
crème fraîche,
although no cream or sauce is really necessary.

FLAN AUX PRUNES—CLAFOUTI AUX PRUNES

[Fresh Prune Plums Baked in Custard]

Fresh prune plums are halved, baked with sugar and flavorings until just tender, and then baked again under a blanket of eggs and cream. Simple to do and delicious to eat, the same recipe can be applied to other fruits, canned or fresh, as described at the end of the recipe.

For 4 people

1)
Preliminary baking of the fruit

1 pound, or about 1 quart, fresh prune plums, washed, halved, and seeded

A lightly buttered baking dish, large enough to hold them in 1 layer

⅛ tsp cinnamon

½ cup sugar

The grated rind of 1 lemon

1 Tb lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange fruit skin-side down in dish, and sprinkle with the flavorings. Bake in middle level of oven about 20 minutes, or until fruit is just tender but still holds shape. Raise oven heat to 375 degrees for next step.

2)
Final baking with custard—20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees

A lightly buttered 10- to 11-inch baking dish 1½ to 2 inches deep

2 “large” eggs

3 Tb sugar

A mixing bowl and wire whip

2 Tb flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅓ cup light or all-purpose cream

Transfer fruit, still skin-side down, to second baking dish; reserve juices. Beat eggs and sugar in bowl to blend them, then beat in the flour, vanilla, and cream. Pour over the fruit.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: Refrigerate if you are not baking immediately.

Bake in upper third of preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until custard has puffed and browned lightly.

3)
Sauce and serving

The cooking juices from Step 1, in a small pan

Optional: 2 to 3 Tb Cognac, rum, or kirsch

A serving bowl

Optional:
crème Chantilly
(lightly whipped cream sweetened with confectioner’s sugar and flavored with Cognac, rum, kirsch, or vanilla)

While the dessert is baking, warm the fruit juices and flavor them with the liqueur if you wish; warm
them again just before serving. Serve the flan hot, warm, or tepid, accompanied by the fruit juices and optional
crème Chantilly.